These Library TikTok Accounts Are Everything

While the currency of brand accounts acting like real people for humorous effects online has less value than it used to, there’s a significant exception to that rule. That’s libraries engaging with short-form videos. Yes, I’m talking about TikTok, but they also upload to YouTube and Instagram and often get reposted by other accounts on Twitter. Some of the most consistently fun content on TikTok that will make me smile and laugh are library accounts.

There are several awesome LibraryTok accounts representing minor and major municipalities. (Some libraries are county/parish-run and not city-run.) I’m proud to say one of my libraries, The Harris County Public Library (HCPL), is a top-tier poster. I have never before felt so seen and SHAMED as seeing these two TikToks—one from the HCPL system and one from the Watsonville Library in California.

LibraryTok as a resource

In the early days of BookTok, many booksellers began TikToks, including large chains like Barnes & Noble. Those are great, but the library videos are always better because they aren’t selling us anything. They’re asking that you come to use the resources that are already paid for! The only “catch” is you need to live in the area and sometimes an age requirement for certain amenities.

I’ve seen TikToks that feature resources I didn’t know I had access to in my library until AFTER learning about it from another library’s TikTok (and then looking into it). I say this as someone who writes about libraries and is an officer at my libraries’ Friend group. Additionally, I’ve encountered things on LibraryTok that my library doesn’t have, and I think about how that would look in my community. I’m not just talking about book recommendations that prompt a request to be added to the collection. I’m talking about things that expand our imagination about what I library can do and how it can serve the community, especially at a time when digital resources are so convenient.

It’s not all serious or programs based. These accounts will engage with trends and bring out their mascots. (Yeah a LOT of libraries over a certain age will have mascots.) When James Patterson (falsely) lamented that it’s rough out there for white male authors. LibraryTok, for the most part, didn’t directly engage with his statements, instead, they seized the moment by showing the shelves—and sometimes entire bookcases—full of Patterson titles. In one of my favorite reactions, this library took a unique approach:

It’s not all memes and resources. They tackle library tropes, myths, and legends. (Including ghosts in the basement.) It’s rare outside of Banned Book Week, but many libraries also share information on how to help with book bans and censorship.

The Best Library TikTok Account

While I have a lot of Texas hometown pride, I must admit that the best library account is held by the yankees. That’s the Milwaukee Public Library (MPL), which consists of a central branch and 13 other branches. They’re so beloved on the app that many consider MPL the blueprint. However, the account only began in the summer of 2022. Their inaugural TikTok featured a librarian finishing up a book display and then hiding behind a life-size cut-out of reading icon LeVar Burton as they proudly watch patrons picking up a book from said display.

The MPL TikTok is a source of pride to many Milwaukeeans and has caught national attention from Today to The Wall Street Journal.

Their account is even being studied. The LGBTQ+ business news site, Queerency, gave a technical breakdown of why we love this account so much. The MPL TikTok also engage with users, whether or not their patrons. Anyone can be an advocate for libraries, and stirring interest helps all libraries!

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen isn’t manga, but I appreciate this banger nonetheless. It also reminds me of former The Mary Sue Fandom Editor Briana Lawernce (who now writes at Crunchyroll!) Whatever verison of TikTok is kicking near the end of the century, she will be making a TikTok like this.

Just because they run a library account doesn’t mean they don’t throw shade when necessary though.

Unfortunately, as TikTok is slowly banned across the nation (even though it’s semi-unenforceable), these joyful moments and a great marketing source are at risk. Members of the Milwaukee Common Council want to ban the app from city-owned phones and computers. This could happen as soon as May 31. MPL deputy director Jennifer Meyer-Stearns told Urban Milwaukee that the library is working on a legal backup plan to continue to use the app if the ban goes through. Although for different reasons, in the recent past social media like Twitter and Facebook were banned in many libraries, including the MPL. So, who knows what could happen.

(featured image: screencaps/collage)

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Alyssa Shotwell

(she/her) Award-winning artist and writer with professional experience and education in graphic design, art history, and museum studies. She began her career in journalism in October 2017 when she joined her student newspaper as the Online Editor. This resident of the yeeHaw land spends most of her time drawing, reading and playing the same handful of video games—even as the playtime on Steam reaches the quadruple digits. Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 & Oxygen Not Included.

twitter Link to alyssashotwell.myportfolio.com